The passing of time, marked by the changes in (written) language

See, for example older novels, like the ones of John Carter from Mars - excerpt below.

John Carter:
Adventures on Mars book cover

Ascending to the roof of the building I watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying the life story of these strange and ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.

Edgar Rice Burroughs: John Carter of Mars, Chapter VIII, p. 38

Nice, huh? I think it's more diverse words than your reg'lar newspaper article. Or even a paragraph from your average book, nowadays. This is a guess.

Some time ago, I wanted to research, how words and language in Disney songs changed through the years. (Or search the web first, in case someone dunnit before.)

My proposition is that the level has dumbified and dropped dramatically. What's your take?

BMX - a kid in the eighties and nineties

It's nice to know I was definitely a kid in the 90s.

"BMX Bike: The amount of cool that you were is in direct correlation with the number of speeds on your bike.

"Nintendo: This was the greatest Christmas gift I’ve ever received and as soon as my parent’s got it for me I knew I would let them live with me when they got older and couldn’t take care of themselves."

From: The 40 Christmas Presents That Every Kid In The 90s Absolutely Had To Have. Nov. 21, 2013, By Rob Fee.

The trouble with trolls, nowadays

Dman, I like Terry Pratchett's style.

She was impressed, despite herself. You didn't often see proper dwarf halls these days. Most dwarfs were off earning big money in the cities down in the lowlands, where it was much easier to be a dwarf - for one thing, you didn't have to spend most of your time underground hitting your thumb with a hammer and worrying about fluctuations in the international metal markets. Lack of respect for tradition, that was the trouble these days. And take trolls. There were more trolls in Ankh-Morpork now than in the whole mountain range. Granny Weatherwax had nothing against trolls but she felt instinctively that if more trolls stopped wearing suits and walking upright, and went back to living under bridges and jumping out and eating people as nature intended, then the world would be a happier place.

From: Witches Abroad, page 67.

Bennedict Cumberbitch err ... Cumberbatch. You know, Sherlock.

Let's get it on: Bennedict Cumberbatch (link here)
:D Quietly, you'll thank me, ladies.

Cumberbatch talked for a long time about the tragedy of Turing’s life and about what has been a series of very intense roles, heavy on iconic fictional characters and real people. “I am so ready to play a really dumb character,” he said.

I like this two excerpts below:

'As good a sport as Cumberbatch is, he sometimes finds it a bit too much.

Filming “Sherlock” last year in Cardiff, Wales, he had an awkward interlude when he had to walk from his trailer to his car wearing a costume that, had anyone seen it, might have become a major plot spoiler. When he failed in his efforts to get a particularly persistent paparazzo not to photograph him, Cumberbatch shrouded himself in a hoodie (“I looked like Kenny in ‘South Park’”) and held up a sign he had hastily fashioned that said: “Go photograph Egypt and show the world something important.”

The move was lampooned by the British newspapers, particularly when, to the delight of hundreds of fans massed on the street in London for another shoot, Cumberbatch did it again, this time with signs printed with provocative questions about democracy, government intrusion, journalism and the battle between liberty and security in the war on terror.

“These are very complex questions and very difficult arguments to be very clear about, so to ask the questions is to stimulate the debate,” he explained. He has not done it since, though, he said, “I felt really strongly about it at the time.” '

This sounds positively like Ms. Granny Weatherwax* of Terry Pratchett's Discworld!

For a moment, he sounded positively Sherlockian. “There is a way of just shadowing through,” he continued. “The higher the walls, the more dark the windows, the bigger the sunglasses — the more people are going to look. The greatest disguise is learning how to be invisible in plain sight.”

*She has the ability to fade into the background of a room, see Powers, here.

Unhappy tree logs

So, I won't talk about deforestation, much like . I won't really delve into how discoveries like this newfound "gecko-bat" species wouldn't be possible anymore, if forests disappear. Also, I won't say anything more about cultural significance and indigenous people, nor relevance for medicine (Mark Plotkin's (wiki) quote "every time a shaman dies, it is as if a library burned down", see also (2), (3)).

I actually just thought it would be nice to store this photo somewhere.
So here you go.

(1): Source of pic: Got it from Carla, on FB: link here.

(2): Shamanism, By: Mark Andrew Ritchie. I use it as a source of the quote. Found by google.

(3): This book seems interesting: Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Amazon Rain Forest; Mark Plotkin (Amazon).

(4): This one is also actually pretty scary/cool: face on the side of the tree trunk.

Scaremongering in public debates

Word of the day: scaremongering.

scare·mon·ger (skâr′mŭng′gər, -mŏng′-) n.

One who spreads frightening rumors; an alarmist.

---

scare′mon′ger·ing n.   (from: the Free Dictionary.)

Example of usage: 

"The leaders of the local protest group spent a significant amount of efforts to galvanise local opposition, using rhetoric which pro-development stakeholders might call ‘scaremongering’ (it should be pointed out that we noted comparable ‘scaremongering’ tactics coming from a developer; Borders Biofuel first tried to ‘sell’ their fast pyrolysis plant in Wales on the basis of new  employment, but when public opposition became stronger, they began to argue that jobs in the existing sawmill were likely to disappear if the proposal was not accepted).
  It would be hard to prove that the initiators of the local protest do not fully believe their own rhetoric when they start off, but as they learn about the novel technology, these protest leaders must review this list of potential impacts and decide which ones are more ‘scientifically robust’ and/or more consistent with planning  regulations, thus providing more powerful arguments in the formal planning debate.
  However, these arguments may not be as powerful in the continued harnessing of public support to put pressure on elected local councillors. These leaders may thus end up in a situation where they are singing from two different hymn sheets." (van der Horst, 2007: 2711)



van der Horst, D. (2007). NIMBY or not? Exploring the relevance of location and the politics of voiced opinions in renewable energy siting controversies. Energy policy, 35(5), 2705-2714.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2006.12.012

There you go.

Enough is enough, Sir David Attenborough!

Sometimes, even the most steadfast intellectuals "lose" it.

This is David Attenborough, the face of modern naturalist documentaries, such as Life on Earth series, Planet Earth and Life (you could consider watching the Secret Life of Plants, it's really fascinating) saying that he's had it with denial in US:

[it is] extraordinary that one of the wealthiest, materially advanced societies in the world can support irrational myths in that way,” he said. “That they should do it privately is up to them but since what they do effects that whole world it’s pretty serious that they should not accept that humanity has been responsible for these changes that are absolutely evident to everyone else.”

From: Sir David Attenborough: Enough With the Creationists and Climate Change Deniers! | The Daily Beast, 11.2.2014, link here.

Now, I'll just quote the same source: 'Attenborough has made a career of resisting controversy, often describing himself as “a reporter” with no views of his own.'

Though to be honest, one thing is for sure: changes can be seen (or is part of it also the Baader-Meinhof effect as we talk about them more?), but the causes and the extent of those drivers is still debated. And debate is generally good.
  But if the debate is potentially artificially generated by those who stand to lose the most, or when the "debate" and the controversies encourage the stalemate, then well, you do need a change.

Because, you see, it's not about the butterflies anymore. It's about us. All of sentient and non-sentient (?) beings on this planet that were "raised" in a certain climate, with certain food sources and certain living environments. When all of these what used to be certainties change ... you've got yourselves a problem humanity.
  And I am saying humanity, as 'life [on Earth] will find a way'. It just may be that the Earth of tomorrow will be w/o the human species.
Meh. I'll just go eat my sandwich, pray excuse me.

[Addendum] {funny}
Sir David Attenborough's describes Olympic curling, in his signature voice & approach. This is golden.

Read more at http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=777_1392789840#OwKmCtFhm93oPcPl.99

Google Glasshole at a Glance

From the interwebs:

Oh, gods. "...is Google Glass sexy? /.../ Enter 'Glance,' a new app that lets users record and watch sex from all angles."
"/.../ I count on sex being the one time of day when I don't have to be holding in my stomach: please, Glass, don't take that small comfort away from me.

"The app's terminology, as well, is particularly ham-handed. You start the app by telling Glass 'it's time,' and end it by telling Glass to 'pull out.' Ugh. Who on earth did they consult for their market research, Ron Burgundy?"


Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/10591948/Google-Glass-sex-tape-app-is-the-most-appalling-use-of-technology.html

'Right2Water' campaign: first ever European Citizens' Initiative hearing

This I copy directly from the EU website announcement, here.

I find it cool and weird at the same time. Oh, and to the prestigious list of words I don't quite like (because of their confunding potential and fancy sound), I *provisionally* add liberalisation. (I refer to the second sentence in the second paragraph, here.)

Parliament is to hold a public hearing next Monday on the universal right to clean water, the first EP hearing under the European Citizens' Initiative allowing the public to ask the EU authorities for new legislation.
The "Right2Water" campaign group has gathered almost two million signatures to its initiative calling on the Commission to draw up legislation to ensure universal access to adequate supplies of clean drinking water and sanitation throughout the EU. It will present its demands at the first ever European Citizens' Initiative hearing.


The campaigners point out that universal access to water is a human right enshrined by the UN. They will present their three key goals at the hearing, which are: “guaranteed water and sanitation for all in the EU”, “global access to water and sanitation for all” and “no liberalisation of water services”. They promote the provision of water and sanitation as essential public services for all and believe that these services should not be subject to EU internal market rules.


The public hearing, organised by Parliament's environment committee in association with the petitions, internal market and consumer protection and development committees and starting at 15.00 on Monday, 17 February, follows up the registration of the initiative by the Commission on 20 December 2013. It will provide a platform for debate with MEPs, the leaders of the ‘Right2Water’ initiative and representatives of the European Commission.


Citizens' Initiative


The Citizens' Initiative was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty and gives EU citizens who are eligible to vote in the European elections an opportunity to help shape the EU agenda. To qualify, a Citizens' Initiative must be signed by at least one million EU citizens, from at least seven of the 28 member states, within 12 months of the registration date. It must also fall within the Commission's remit.

REF. : 20140210IPR35552

Updated: ( 11-02-2014 - 09:01)

Again, this was copied in its entirety from here.